In the new book, Andy – engaged and now helming her own magazine – encounters fresh challenges of her own, as she is preparing to walk down the aisle. One of those challenges? Well, we’ll let you guess, but it involves a familiar face.

Why did you decide to bring back Andy for a new book?

I’d been thinking about it for a really long time. So much happens in all of our lives in 10 years, I just got really curious about what would be going on with Andy and Emily and the whole crew. … I thought it would be really fun to not just check in with them and pick up their story 10 years later, but to create a whole 10-year backstory, so it was kind of the best of both worlds.

How was it different writing this book than your other novels, where you started fresh with brand-new characters?

It was a little strange, but I really liked it. It’s great and it’s fun to sit down with an empty screen and you can just start from scratch. For me, the challenge came in wanting to stay true to them, wanting to keep them the same people that the readers recognized and connected with the first time, but also letting them grow up and face their own obstacles.

Did you feel like you needed to include real-world events like the recession, making lives considerably less lavish?

I think anything that’s going on in the real world finds its way into your writing. New York still plays such a big role in this book; Andy’s a New Yorker, and I’m a New Yorker, I guess you can say — it’s been 14 years. I still don’t even know if that counts. … I don’t think New York the city has changed, of course things have changed in 10 years, but I feel like the characters living in it haven’t changed.

What will Andy face in this new book that she wouldn’t have faced 10 years ago?

Ten years ago, she was wide eyed, fresh faced, straight out of college, super naïve; 10 years have gone by, and she’s way more experienced in the industry now, she’s doing what she loves, which is writing. She’s founded this magazine, and I think she’s much more confident, much more sure of herself. She’s a proper grownup.